Quartz 4

The Barbaric North

3 min read

The Barbaric North

A frozen land of blood, steel, and storm, the Barbaric North knows no kings, no peace, and no mercy—only strength, memory, and the certainty of war.

Overview

  • Capital: None

  • Government: Tribal Rule

  • Ruler: None (might makes right)

  • Primary Culture: Northern Tribes

  • Religion: The Pantheon (The Warrior and The Reaper Prominent)

  • Allies: None

  • Rivals: Everyone (especially each other)

Geography

The Barbaric North lies beyond the Northern Sea, a continent of ice and stone where survival itself is a daily battle.

  • Terrain: Glaciers, frozen tundra, jagged mountains, ice-choked fjords

  • Climate: Lethally cold; blizzards are common and sudden

  • Seas: Northern Sea (treacherous, ice-bound)

  • Borders:

    • South: The Northern Sea

    • Everywhere else: Endless cold

Notable Regions & Landmarks

History

The tribes of the North do not keep written history—only scars and songs.

  • The North has always been at war

  • Tribes rise, fall, and are forgotten within generations

  • Southern empires have tried to conquer the North and failed every time

  • The cold outlasts all ambitions

Some sagas speak of a time before the ice, when giants walked and the land burned with strange lights.

The Tribes

There are dozens of tribes, constantly shifting through conquest and extinction.

Common traits include:

  • Longship raiders and ice hunters

  • Warrior societies where leadership is proven, not inherited

  • Frequent blood feuds and ritual combat

Notable tribal groupings (names vary by saga):

Unity exists only briefly—usually before a great slaughter.

Culture & Customs

Northern culture is brutal, honest, and myth-bound.

  • Values: Strength, courage, reputation, endurance

  • Food: Seal meat, whale fat, hard grains, blood-wine

  • Social Structure:

    • Chieftains rule until challenged

    • Slaves taken in raids are common

  • Traditions:

    • Names earned through deeds

    • Skalds preserve memory through song

  • Taboos:

    • Cowardice

    • Breaking an oath

    • Refusing a challenge

Death in battle is not feared—it is expected.

Magic & Myth

Magic in the North is feared, revered, and poorly understood.

  • Shamans speak with spirits of ice and storm

  • Runes are carved into weapons and bones

  • Sorcery is blamed for unnatural cold and madness

Legends persist of sleeping gods, metal beneath the ice, and weapons that hum when storms approach.

What Lies Beneath the Ice

Most tribes dismiss it as skald nonsense—but not all.

  • Glaciers sometimes expose smooth, unnatural stone

  • Meltwater reveals metal that does not rust

  • Ancient ruins have been found and quickly resealed

  • Those who linger too long near such places go mad—or vanish

The elders say the ice is not natural.

It is a lid.

Relations with the World

  • Osweg: Occasional trade and frequent bloodshed

  • Middlelands: Source of plunder

  • Infernal Empire: Known only through rumor—for now

  • Dwarves: Feared and respected as “stone-kin”

The North does not care who rules the south—only whether they are worth killing.

Notes for Players

The Barbaric North is raw, lethal, and indifferent.

There are no laws—only consequences.

Reputation travels faster than gold.

If something ancient wakes beneath the ice, the tribes will be the first to die… or the first to follow it.

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